Apple Keynote iPhone 8 reveal

Apple held their keynote today and announced a few new goodies for the masses. The first big news is the Apple Watch. They added a few features such as an improved heart rate sensor being the biggest update to WatchOS 4 which releases on September 19th. The Apple Watch series 3 will be released with LTE utilizing the same number as your phone similar to the Samsung Gear S3. This time around there will be a duel core chipset and Siri built-in. The SIM is built-in again similar to the Samsung Gear S3. They will be putting the antenna into the display itself. The cellular model will be available September 22nd and retail for $399.

The new Apple TV was also announced and will include 4K this time around. It will have an updated interface and a speed boost. 4K videos will cost the same as the HD version and anyone who purchased the HD version gets an upgrade to the 4K version for free. More options have been added to the TV App and for some reason Games have been added. It appears to be a lot of indie games so far similar to the App store. The new Apple TV will be released on September 15th with the 4K version starting at $179

Alright kids the news you actually came for is the announcement of the new iPhone. As all of us suspected the new models are called the 8 and 8 Plus and look very similar to the 7 and 7 plus. The devices will be glass on the front and back and reinforced by internal steel and copper making then sturdier. Screen sizes are still 4.7 and 5.5 respectively. Water resistant is back and True Tone has been added for more ambient colors. The new A11 chip is 6 cores and is 25 percent faster than the A10. The 12mp camera is back but in true Apple fashion it’s a faster camera with more colors and better lighting. The plus will once again have a second camera on the back. The new devices will have Augmented Reality as previously rumored. Although Android has had this for a while it’s good to see Apple jumping on board so we can see more mainstream applications of this. This time around wisely Apple has finally implemented wireless charging using Qi technology and Belkin and Mophie are making the charging pads. Once again Android has had this for a while. The iPhone 8 comes in 64GB and 256GB and start at $699 with the 8 plus starting at $799. Pre-orders go live on September 15th and will launch on September 22nd. IOS 11 goes live on September 19th.

Tim Cook came out and announced one more thing! iPhone X is official and it is edge to edge screen. Glass on front and back like the 8. The band is made from surgical grade stainless steel and wraps around. Water and dust resistant, comes in space Grey and silver. Super retina 5.8 in display using OLED made by Samsung. No home button and everything is gesture based similar to WebOS. Press and hold side button to access Siri. It will include Face ID to unlock the screen. It will unlock with TrueDeph camera which can also be used for much better picture performance as well. The Face ID will also work with Apple Pay as well as Animoji’s to brighten up you messages. They are animated emoijis and seem to add a new level of flair. 12mp duel cameras with Quad Led True Tone flash. Same bionic A11 chip in the 8. They have added an additional 2 hours of battery life over the iPhone 7 with Qi charging of course. Apple will be releasing their own Qi charger next year that will impressively charge multiple devices at once. The iPhone will also come on 64 and 256GB and start at $999. Pre-orders go live October 22nd and becomes available November 3rd. Apple has also slashed prices in its older SKUs with the SE starting at $349, the 6s at $449 and the 7 at $549.

They certainly unveiled a decent amount of things today however most of it was very heavily leaked throughout the year. I like that they have finally gotten to a point where they will now have an iPhone for every budget making it a much more affordable device while still offering the premium experience that iPhone users are used to. Well done Apple, I think you were able to release a product that would have made Steve Jobs proud. Although I can’t quite shake the feeling they played it safe still by slightly upgrading the 7. With the iPhone X they truly made it feel like a Samsung device by copying a lot of features that come standard on the Galaxy line. They also skipped the iPhone 9 very much like Samsung skipped the Note 6. Here’s hoping they didn’t copy the exploding phone feature that plagued the Note last year. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.